Whether in a home, an office or a commercial setting, carpet is generally laid in sections that are cut from rolls and joined by virtually invisible hidden seams. Edge seams are made where a width greater than one roll is required. The carpet is folded back and cut by hand, following between backstitched rows of piling. The resulting straight edges are joined and the seam is then stretched and flattened. Although care must be exercised, these seams can be done by a helper under supervision. Outside edges, which are stretched onto a tacking strip, are less difficult and can be done without close supervision.
A higher degree of skill is required in making hidden end seams where two laid sections must abut, and a lead man or the crew foreman will do this work personally. This situation occurs most commonly at doorways between adjoining rooms or at closets. The long standing practice is to fold the first section so that the backing can be cut with a straight edge, and then to overlap the sections and carefully make a matching cut by eye. This is time consuming and even with care and skill, quality can be uncertain. It is difficult to cut the backings to match perfectly, and the tufted pile will either catch or avoid the blade so as to be "shaved" unevenly. An alternate method is to overlap the carpet sections and cut through both with a razor blade holding tool, using a straight edge as a guide. Because of the depth of the double thickness, the cuts do not necessarily match. Again, the tufted pile can be shaved unevenly and the effects conspire to make a visible, or "shaded" seam.
Donavan, U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,039, discloses a device, wherein a hinged guide has stops for engaging the edge of the underneath carpet section, and an upper plate which folds down to guide a blade in making a cut aligned with the under edge. Ward, PCT No. WO 90/10526 discloses another means for making a cut guided by the edge of an underlying carpet section. Other prior art by Funger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,141, discloses apparatus for making a guided cut through the overlapped sections wherein "thick", "thin" and "exactly even" cuts are taught to be obtained by either tilting the blade or holding it vertical. Squires, U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,439, discloses means for making a guided cut for abutting carpet borders and Roberts, U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,956 discloses a hand-held tool for cutting overlapped layers simultaneously to make a matching cuts for a seam.
These, and other tools have been offered to the carpet laying trade over the years, but skill and experience remain essential to making the undetectable hidden seam expected of quality work, and results are not certain. When cutting through the pile, a blade will either catch or avoid the tufts so that the pile may be shaved unevenly, making a seam which will show even when carpet backings are cut to match perfectly.
A first object of the present invention is therefore to provide a tool which will make perfectly matched cuts for carpet seams. A second object is to eliminate pile shaving and its revealing effect in carpet seams. A third object is to provide a tool capable of cutting carpet for an undetectable hidden seam without requisite skill or experience.
The present invention accomplishes the above objectives by providing an elongated blade, held in a fixed position beneath the carpet section to be cut. The cut is then made by urging the backing of the carpet into the blade. Thus, the blade cuts through the backing without being drawn through the carpet pile. In fact, the blade makes minimal pile contact, needing only to extend sufficiently to sever the backing. In cutting for a hidden seam, the blade is held in position at the desired seam location while two overlapped sections of laid carpet are cut as described, so that a perfectly matched cut is assured in both sections. The invention can be similarly used to cut carpet for inlet patterns or borders, and can be used to make a precisely trimmed carpet edge as required for hidden edges or the like. Furthermore, it is not limited to abutting end seams, but works equally well for edge seams and angled seams.